Pin-box construction for sorting machines



April 21, 1925. 1,534,595

w. w. LASKER PIN BOX CONSTRUCTION FOR SORTING MACHINES Filed lvgay 29, 1924 IN VEN TOR fl l'liz'dm M law/er,

Patented Apr. 21, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM W. LASKER, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO POWERS ACCOUNTING MACHINE CORPORATION, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

PIN-BOX CONSTRUCTION FOR SORTING MACHINES.

Application filed May 29, 1924. Serial No. 716,699.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM W'. LASKER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Brooklyn, county of Kings, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Pin-Box Construc-- tions for Sorting Machines, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to the analyzing mechanism of a machine for sorting cards which are perforated in a manner corresponding to statistical data to be tabulated by running the cards through tabulating and accounting machines. In preparation for tabulating the data on the cards it is generally necessary to sort the cards into groups so that each group will represent data related to the same subject, and for carrying out this preliminary grouping of the cards they are run through the sorting machine to automatically distribute them into the proper groups. In thus sorting the cards automatically, an analyzing mechanism is employed which is manually set to sort the cards for group data in a selected perforated field in the card, and when it is desired to change the analyzing mechanism to sort group data for another field of the card it is necessary to make certain adjustments of the sorting machine before the analyzing mechanism can be brought to its new position.

Some of the objects of the present invention are to provide an analyzing mechanism for sorting machines which can be shifted at will from one group sorting position to another group sorting position; to provide means whereby a card analyzing mechanism can be releasedand moved to a new position in the machine; to provide an analyzing mechanism in which the selecting pins are normally in interfitting relation with the card registration plate and are under the control of a means for withdrawing them from the registration plate to release the analyzing pin box for movement to a predetermined position; and to provide other improvements as will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1 represents a side elevatlon of a pin box analyzingmechanism embodying one form of the'present invention; Fig. 2 represents an end elevation of the same; Fig. 3 represents a section on line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings, one form of the present invention comprises a pin box 10,

formed of end plates 11 and 12, rigidly connected by a slotted cross strip 13, a stop bar 14, and a pin guide 15, which latter is suitably perforated for the free sliding movement of the analyzing pins 16 respectively. In the present construction, all of the pins are mounted in a like-manner, and therefore the description will be confined to one of the pins and its associated parts. The upper end of the pin 16 is mounted on a pivot 17 of an arm 18, which is pivoted on a transverse shaft 20 supported by the end plates 11 and 12. Also mounted on the pivot 17 is a detent 21, provided at a suitable point with a hook 22 to receive one end of a spring 23, the other end of which is connected to the stop bar 14 and serves to retract the parts 27 which is arranged to seat upon the stop bar 14 When the pin has reached its normal position. The arm 18 is also formed with a latch recess 28, to be engaged at a certain time by a spring pressed latch plate 30 to prevent the pin from moving upwardly when the operation of the pin box requires it to be held in its lower position. The registration plate 26 forms the upper bounding surface of the card passage 31, of which the lower registration plate 32 forms the opposite bounding surface, and as will be understood, the card enters between the aforesaid plates 26 and 32 to take a position in register with the perforations of the plates and with respect to the pins.

For operating the latch plate 30, it is mounted by brackets 33 in a pivotal manner tened to the s aft 34 by a set screw 38. The

bushin 37 is fast to one end of a coil spring 40, which has its free end held against the outer face of the latch plate 30, so that a turning movement of the bushing 37 places the spring 40 under tension and causes the latch plate 30 to be swung counterclockwise, as shown in Fig. 3, to bring its lower edge into the recess 28 of the arm 18, thereby holding in their lowermost position all pins which have not been initially raised by the card. The release and return action of the latch plate 30 takes place under-the action of a coil spring 41 operating between a fixed lug 42 of the plate 12 and a pin 43 fastened to the aforesaid plate 30. This pin 43 is preferably extended through a slot 44 in the plate 12 into the path of movement of a cam finger 45 or a movable part to be presently described. I

For mounting the pin box 10, it is provided at one side with apertured cars 46 to receive its supporting rod 47 which forms a part of the movable frame for vertically reciprocating the pin box, while the opposite plate 11 is provided with guide lugs 48 for sliding engagement with a cross rod 50 also of the pin box reciprocating mechanism, the

two rods 47 and 50 being arranged in par-- allel relation. It will be understood that the rods 47 and 50 are normally reciprocated to transmit the desired motion to the pin box structure, but' that the pin box, if raised so that'its pins 16 are removed from the registration plate 26, can be shifted relative to the aforesaid rods 47 and 50 and that this shifting will bring it to a new group analyzing position.

For the purpose of making this change in the group position of the pin box in a simple and efficient manner, means are provided for manually withdrawing the pins 16 from the registration plate 26, and in the present instance consist of a lift rod 51 carried by link arms 52 which are made fast to the shaft 20 by set screws 53 respectively. One end. of the shaft 20 projects through the plate 12 and has fixed thereto a rock arm 54 which is arranged in the path of movement of a pick-up bar 55, laterally extending from a. slide 56 which is movably connected to the plate 12 by slots 57 and headed pins 58. ormally. the slide 56 is held raised so that the bar is out of engagement with the rock arm 54 by means of a spring 60 which is attached at one end to the fixed pin 58 and at its opposite end .to an offset portion 61 of the slide 56, which latter terminates, in one form of card stop 63. The upper end' of the slide 56 is provided with an extension 64 having a lug 65 or other means formed thereon by which it can be taken hold of for manual operation. The slide 56 also has the cam projection 45 formed integral with it so that its movement also controls the return of the rod 43, is previously described.

When it is desired to shift the pin box relative to the supporting rods 47 and 50 the extension 64 of the slide 56 is pressed down, thereby moving the slide against the tension of the spring 60 and relative to the tion plate 26 and can slide on the supporting rods 47 and 50 until the pins are over another row of perforations in the registration plate 26 and which row is the one "now selected for group analyzing. In this position the slide 56 is released and the spring 60 returns it to its upper normal posltion, and the springs 23, which control the return of the pins, now function, and simultaneously with the return movement of the pins rock the shaft 20 and rod 51 back to normal positions.

IVhile only a single form is shown in which this invention may be embodied, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to any specific construction, but might be applied to various forms without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the a pended claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a card analyzing mechanism, thecombination of a registration plate, a pin box having pins normally extending into said plate, a support for said pin box, and means including a rock lift bar common to all of said pins for removing said pins from said plate to release said pin box for sliding movement on said support.

2. In a card analyzing mechanism, the combination of a registration plate, a pin box having pins normally extending into said plate, a reciprocable support for said pin box, and means including a rock bar common to all of said pins for removing said pins from said plate to release said pin box for sliding movement on said support.

3. In a card analyzing mechanism, the combination of a registration plate, a pin b'ox having pins normally extending into said plate, a support for said pin box, and means including a spring pressed slide for removing said pins from said plate to release said pin box for sliding movement on said support.

4. In a card analyzing mechanism, the combination of a registration plate, a pin box having pins normally extending into said plate, a support for said pin box, a manually operable slide mounted on said pin box, and means actuated by said slide for removing said pins fromsaid plate to release said pin box for sliding movement on said support.

5. In a card analyzing mechanism, the combination of a registration plate, a pin box having pins normally extending into said plate, a support for said pin box, a manually operable slide mounted on said pin box, a spring retracting means for said slide, and means including a trip arm in the path of said slide for removing said pins from said plate to release said pin box for sliding movement on said support.

6. In a card analyzing mechanism, a pin box having analyzing pins normally interfitting with a part for free reciprocating movement therethrough but preventing movement of said pin box in a direction parallel to said part, and means including a pivoted lift bar common to all of said pins and operable at will to remove said pins. to release said pin box for movement parallel to said part.

Signed at Philadelphia, county of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, this 22nd day of May, 1924.

WILLIAM WV. LASKER. 

